Photo: Courtesy Hawk Mountain Sanctuary

The Lehigh Valley is one of the fastest-growing regions in the Commonwealth. The highway system enables easy access from all directions, and with three major cities and an enviable collection of open space, the Lehigh Valley plays an important role in the economy of eastern Pennsylvania. The Kittatinny Ridge, the northern mountain that defines the Valley, is internationally recognized for its role in bird migration in the Atlantic Flyway and is one of Pennsylvania’s largest Important Bird Areas.

An estimated $795 million is spent on outdoor recreation each year in the Lehigh Valley, and recreational activity on open space in the Valley creates nearly 10,000 jobs. The current green infrastructure along streams in the Lehigh Valley reduces tax dollars by avoiding more than $110 million annually in expenditures for water supply, flood mitigation, and water quality. And the Valley’s natural areas provide $219.5 million annually in habitat for insects, birds, animals, and plants.

The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission (LVPC) projects that the Valley will grow by another 145,696 residents by the year 2030, and by 2040 there will be 873,954 people living in the region, a 35% increase over three decades. The age of residents is also expected to shift in the Lehigh Valley over the next 30 years. The LVPC predicts that the number of people over 65 years of age will nearly double by the year 2040.

Click the link below to see how Lehigh Valley’s natural assets are essential to our everyday life:

ROE TECHNICAL REPORT